invisible string . r chase

02. a fight for power

Robert had left the office for a moment, running to grab coffee for the group of doctors so they could begin their day with a spike of caffeine. This also reduced the likelihood that they would commit assault on their superior, a small dose of caffeine could prevent a multitude of mishaps. As he approached the office - four take away cups of coffee balancing on his hand as he dodged past the series of doctors who were rushing throughout the hospital – he noticed a familiar figure stopped in the corridor.

Without thinking, he called out her name causing her to pull her eyes from the place they were fixated on her reflection. The moment her face became visible to him, he was instantly relieved her had obtained the extra cup of coffee in the hope that the rumours were true and she would have been joining the team that day. He held the tray our to her, the woman smiling as she saw the lid with the cursive mocha on, "What you thought I'd forget?"

"I thought you would have realised having a six month old has meant I've learnt to drink the strong stuff." Alexis joked, taking a sip of the coffee. "Though if you had thought that you would have been wrong."

There was a silence for a second, Alexis scratching at her take away cup, Robert seeing the queue to break the awkwardness, "When's the last time you left this place?"

"A little while ago, my locker currently has as much of my wardrobe as I can fit in there." She joked half-heartedly. "But I have lived in scrubs a lot recently, always an upside from working in the NICU half the time."

Robert laughed, nodding slightly as the woman continued to go fidget before her friend. Without knowing, the two had separated themselves over the past eight months – their friendship taking a toll from the new separation when they stopped working together. When Robert finished work the last thing he wanted to do was walk to a different section of the hospital and Alexis didn't leave the NICU unless she was standing in the waiting room of the OR or holding her daughter as she was pricked with needles. It terrified them to know that – when it wasn't convenient – they stopped putting the effort in to see each other. They still spoke, but it stopped the duo from being comfortable before each other.

"I'm sorry I haven't visited, I thought I should give you some time." Robert's face displayed the guilt he had been hiding for the last few months, he didn't know how to be there for Alexis as she battled her worst fear. "But you know I'm here if you need me, even if its just for long enough to go home."

She nodded, clinging to the heat in her coffee cup, "I know. Actually, there was something I've been meaning to ask you-"

"Maybe we should begin treating the patient you care oh so much about?" House interrupted, cutting the conversation off before either party could finish. "Get in here and write on the board – we finally have a doctor with acceptable handwriting."

Watching him return back to the office, Alexis turned to her friend, "We should probably do what we are paid for."

"Probably," Robert nodded, following her into the room and watching her force a smile onto her face as Allison excitedly welcomed the woman back. The tension and hesitation in her return of the brunettes embrace validated his concern for the woman. For the forceable future Alexis would be forcing a façade of strength onto her face whenever anyone asked her about the baby in the NICU, and he couldn't blame her.

"Yes, yes, Abernathy is back, she looks so great, could still work at a high end strip club, can we please discuss something interesting." House questioned causing the doctors to grimace. "So, what do we know?"

"CBC was typical, abdominal CT scan didn't show anything." Alexis listed as she began writing the rest of the patients symptoms on the board. "Oddly, blood pressure isn't responding to IV fluids."